INSOMNIACS place to talk in the wee hours

Ladies- I go for a little appointment to see the BS, and I come back and you have spider pictures all over this thread!

Kathy- welcome back to the thread. I was here once, I left and then slowly but surely they lured me back. Don't worry about catching up, just jump on in!

Sassy- don't forget Mags, Rose, and think Mommy too?

Went to the BS today and everything is fine. We talked about MRIs and more genetics tests and all that is parked for now (or won't be covered by insurance). Her big focus today on me was to tell me I need to get my weight down further. Been working on that since last year with personal training, but as I am sure many of you know, the AIs don't help anything there. She told me protein and vegetables are the way to go and going to refocus on that plan to get some more pounds off. She said the extra weight negates the benefits of the AIs, which I know is true. So I am done with this part of the follow up, next week is the MO apt and then I am done DONE for six months.

Tomorrow we go the PCP and cannot wait to see what happens there!

Sassy- one thing I know about doctors is that they know nothing about nutrition. I worked with a doctor a few years back on a project for one of my healthcare clients and he was talking about physician documentation around nutrition and said doctors are not trained around anything in med school with respect to food. I think the medical schools now are integrating more of that in their curriculum. It is the same with personal trainers, they can teach you how to exercise, but not how to eat. So telling you to loose weight and given their lack of knowledge is difficult at best.

My BS is a very petite slim woman who I think is a big time runner. I think she advised me what to eat based on what she eats. I am a pretty healthy eater, gave up sugar two years ago, eat healthy and not that much anymore either, but do find loosing weight on the AIs tough. When I went on them, I immediately gained weight. This is where the double edge sword is, they give you these meds that cause weight gain and drop your metabolism and then tell you to drop weight. I don't talk to too many women here who can loose weight easily on the AI meds.

We have all these fitness trackers, gym memberships, fitness boot camps, but we still have a lot of overweight people. I think our industrialized food supply has not helped anything. Go blame corporate america for putting crap into our food!

Even the Registered Dieticians and Certified Diabetes Educators aren't all that great with weight loss. At least in my experience with a few of them. And your right about docs not having it it med school. They pass you off to the RDs.

The neurosurgeon who botched my first neck surgery was overweight. But sat there and told ME to get the pounds off. Do as I say, not as I do. Grrrr

Loverly - My 1st introduction to real spiders. We moved to Hawaii when I was in the 4th grade and I remember those suckers. We have golden orb that build in the corners and across unused pathways. They must be a related species.

Queen - naw has not much to be with being new. Like I couldn't figure out Sassy's almonds reference. We are moving at the speed of light lol.

Um Sassy don't think I want to picture that last comment. When I worked that 1.5 years palliative care it was 7 on, 7off. I had professional people nurse type that wanted to know if those were 12 hour shifts (haha typed it and left out the "f", knew that didn't look right). God help me 10 hour shifts were enough, left house about 1115 in the morning returned home about 1220 am (next day) if I was lucky (I live at least 45 min away from this hospital). The unit did not last too much longer on that schedule after I left, went with standard 12 hour shifts. It was a great way to bond with patients I will give it that.

Welcome back Kathy.

I think docs get a couple of hours at best in nutrition. Jazzy you have perfectly described my BS too. Shocked to find out she's in her late 40s - OK I snooped on google a bit. PCP is the one on my case about exercise which he could certainly use as well and only a few years younger than me.

No further word from Patty?

Spookie- I would be a bit surprised to have an overweight doc tell me to loose weight. My sister is a primary care type doc and says most doctors won't even go there with patients as it will take up their whole time together.

I actually met with a diabetic nutritionist early last year when my AIC went borderline. After having me track my food for a month, reading my journal, seeing my blood work improve, she said you are doing fine and eating very well. I was not able to loose weight during that period either even with limiting carbs and dumping sugar. I do think my AIC went high when I went on the AIs (read some things about this), but things have since stabilized. I have read a lot of women end up diabetic after cancer treatment, and they suspect chemo and the anti-hormone meds play a role. Telling you, we can't win here!

It will be a very good day when we have a more integrated approach to health with more preventative measures, not meaning screening tests, but eduation for individuals on what each of us needs to have better health, what to eat, etc. Just think of all the years after they changed the food pyramid and we were all encouraged to eat more bread and grains. That did not work out so well! If you are exercising ALOT, you can burn those off, but most folks cannot.

The battle of the bulge continues.....

DD has type 2 diabetes and has been testing to see what various foods do to her blood sugar. One discovery was that artificial sweeteners raise her levels as much as sugar. Another was that even minute amounts of carbs raise the level. She can eat meat and vegetables, but rice, etc. is just poison. She's considering getting another dog just because it will force her to exercise. She previously owned a German Shepherd 'the size of a mini van'. She felt absolutely safe walking that dog at night.

I have to be in the right frame of mind to lose weight and that is hard to find. I lost about 10lbs after diagnosis but would be better off if I lost another 10.

Thanks for the welcome back. Definitely missed the camaraderie. Introvert by nature so I was mostly a lurker. Have to learn to come out of that shell.

http://on.aol.com/video/puppy-presents-bring-tears...

This is so cute! DD sent me this...... Morning all! Nothin' new here...

And HEY Kath! Good to see you back.... All these gals have a lot of good information... unlike me of course. I only know about Aloe Vera, Chocolate Cokes, Gardening and Chickens. So if I can help you with any of those things, just holler.

Going to go out in a bit... Have to wait until it starts to get light, to work on that parking.... Almost have it cleared, scraped, and leveled, THEN I'll do the easier stuff. I swear to DOG that little jelly-bean brain could fall down in all those weeds, and only think how beautiful those 2 "flowers" were... and then have a hard time getting back on her little Mary-Janes.

BUT my side is looking 100% better ALREADY! I would pat myself on the back if I could REACH it... My arms are all scratched up, and my hands are just SORE! But I am woman!

Well this morning I set a goal of the most grueling housework to do. Start to finish it took an hour and a half, but its done, saved the worst task for tommorrow, sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor! That takes a while because my kitchen runs the length of my house and so I have to do it in three sections. Thank goodness for having a Swiffer Wet Mop. No more bucket and mop to mess with! Who knows, maybe a bit later, I may have enough energy built up again to tackled the kitchen floor. I do all my housework while listening to music. Even housework in my book counts as excercise, cause you gotta move to get it done.

Mommy- are you familiar with MapMyWalk? It is a free app you can use to keep track of your exercise. I use it for everything from gym work outs, to steps, to bike rides, yoga class, yard work, you name it. It actually has things like housework and yard work you can track and log to include in your daily exercise. Anyone who has cleaned a house or yard knows these things are hard work and move your body a lot!

http://www.mapmywalk.com/

Come do my floors pleeeeeze? I have a Swiffer too.

Patty - Hootie Hoo back atcha. Yay for being back home. Love you bunches.

Patti, Glad to hear you're back home, but sorry the pain has returned. Hope you're right about moving around getting it to calm down.

Mommy, What kind of salad does the dicktor eat for breakfast? The majority of salads are just filling. If you add the good ingredients, the calorie count goes up. I wonder if doctors talk like that to their male patients.

My beef with weight is that as I lose height (scoliosis and age) the ideal weight goes down. I don't think that is fair. After all, my backbone is the same length even tho it doesn't appear to be.

Gentle hugs for ya Patty!

Well the kitchen floor will be done tommorrow, instead of doing that chore, I went outside and de-weeded my flower bed. Had to do it in halves as it pretty much did in my back. Now its just peel and cut up potatoes for dinner and my evening excercise before I call it a day.

Staples out today, hurray! And I feel better after only an hour--irritation where the staples were pulled out, to be sure, on top of an already irritated surgical site, but that WTF? I just brushed against a hard thing in my breast: feeling is gone.

Wren: I was kinda wondering about the salad for breakfast idea. Not impossible--it depends on what you eat for breakfast. But how come they can't just say "You need to eat more vegetables, let's figure out how you can do so in a healthy manner." (Salads don't work well for me because I have to drown them in dressing to choke them down, which defeats the purpose.)

Patti: sends up celebratory fireworks--you're home! And my spine sends your spine sympathy: no matter how much the doctors work with me, I still end up with nerve flareups...but all I have to deal with is being annoyed and worrying that I'll need another fusion.